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Greening Up Winter
Greetings!
 I have been a fiend with the evergreens this holiday season. We always do a real tree (the smell alone is worth the hassle, expense, and mess), so last weekend we went to cut our own at the wonderful Strautman's Tree Farm near Cambridge. (That's 13-year-old Will with our selection.)
They were kind enough to let me load up for free on the trimmings from other trees. Now I have tons of beautiful balsam fir to put into an arrangement on the back porch, tuck into a candle display on the kitchen table, use as filler around the nutcrackers on the mantle, and make a real garland for the front door, entwined with tiny white lights. My favorite: I wired green dowels to a circular wreath form to make a fun hippy dippy peace wreath.
Some Christmas music, some eggnog with a generous splash of rum, and a little holiday decorating with fragrant greenery. It totally puts me in the mood for the season!
Happy Holiday Decorating! Veronica Lorson Fowler |
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Gifts for Gardeners
Gardeners are easy to buy for, at least in my mind, but if you're looking for some fast, not hugely expensive gifts for nearly any gardener, consider these:
  Give an The Iowa Gardener garden journal! Simply print off the 18 or so pages and the cover. Tuck into a white 3-ring binder with a clear plastic sleeve on the front. Add a couple of pocket folders to hold magazine articles and a ziploc-type plastic pouch to hold labels. The perfect small gift for teachers, neighbors and friends.
A gift certificate to a favorite greenhouse, tied to the handle of an inexpensive trowel.
A beautiful flowering plant. This time of year cyclamen are wonderful (and they're always fairly easy to care for). Gardenias are stunning, but expensive and difficult to keep alive for more than a few months because of humidity requirement. The same is true of most (but not all) orchids and mini-roses. Still, because they're short-lived in most homes, they're a lovely luxury to give.
The gift of help. This is a great one for a teenager to give to a grandparent (or heck, a parent!)--a gift certificate specifying so many hours of assistance in the garden or tackling a certain chore.
A big, glossy coffee table garden book. Gardeners this time of year need an infusion of beauty. What nicer than a gorgeous book to dream over?
A year-long pass or membership to your local botancial center. Nothing makes me happier on a brutal winter day than a visit to the sunny, fragrant butterfly house at Reiman Gardens near my home. The only thing that's better is to have an unlimited number of visits
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Easy Holiday Arrangement
 I have this arrangement on my back porch, and you can make it in minutes. Just tuck branches of greenery into any container (you can even use an old flower pot). Then add fun sparkly sprays purchased in the floral section of a crafts store. Then I took sticks from the garden and pushed silver tree oraments onto the end.
Outdoors, it's cold so I don't even need to add water. Indoors, use a water-tight container and add water.
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The Perfect Christmas
Tree Stand
For years, I was frustrated with getting my live tree to stay upright. I even secured it to the wall with fishing line and nails! I've messed around with a couple of different tree stands, but this one, made in Kansas, is perfect. A bucket holds lots of water so it's easy to keep the tree well-watered.
 A chain fits around the trunk, which is held upright with four pullies, so you can easily adjust the tree to lean farther this way or that, even when completely decorated. Those who sell it jokingly call it "the marriage saver."
It's available almost solely through local tree farms, so ask at one near you.
I bought mine at Strautmans. Country Pines Tree Farm near Marcus also sells it.
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Garden To-Do List
Are you keeping an The Iowa Gardener Garden Journal? If so, click here for your December page!
Relax! The lovely thing about gardening is that everything has its season. Like your plants, now is the time to rest and focus on other things.
Keep poinsettias evenly but not overly watered. If they dry out and wilt, they will not recover! And their leaves will yellow if kept soggy. Position them in a bright spot away from cold drafts and blasts of heat from a vent or fireplace.
Cut evergreens from your yard. They make beautiful holiday decorations. Just remember that each cut is a pruning cut, so do so with care.
If you clean a wood burning stove or fireplace, dump the ashes on your compost heap. Ash is a great source of phosphorous.
Don't fertilize houseplants this month. With our shorter days and cooler houses, they're not growing much.
Check on forced bulbs. If necessary, water to keep soil evenly moist. Once you see shoots one-half to one inch high, take out the pots and put them in the sunniest, brightest spot you have.
Evaluate your landscape in winter. Think of good places to plant evergreens and trees or shrubs with interesting bark come spring. You'll be able to enjoy them next winter.
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Garden Events
Now through Christmas
Holiday Display
Reiman Gardens
Worth a visit! Come see a rocket ship that doubles as a16-foot tree. A holiday display throughout the gardens pays homage to the spherical shape of the gazing ball, including a replica of the solar system made from bowling balls in the conservatory. Also see trees decorated all in orange, blue, or other colors with interesting materials, such as napkin rings, coasters, or tiny pink bromeliads.
Bonus: Check out the accidental double shipment of gorgeous Blue Morphos in the butterfly house!
December 28-30
Des Moines Botanical Center
10 am-3 pm. Bring the kids to the tropical warmth of the Dome for special crafts, games, activities, and prizes at our "Hats Off to a New Year" event. Adults: $5; children $4 to $1.
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Garden Quote
"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape--the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. "
-- American painter
Andrew Wyeth
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